Ganazu

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 6: Angel…ica

"Was it really necessary to take two baths?" Angel thought, tapping her feet against the bed. She ran a hand through her hair—still wet—and ruffled it up. "You're awfully quiet." She commented, getting Stitch's attention.

"Stitch just tired…and hungry." He said, his stomach growling loudly.

"Well the hungry part is obvious." She said with a chuckle, stretching on her bed. "Too bad we can't eat until Lilo bleaches the tub."

"Nani naga jokibba?"

"Nope, she was serious. I would be helping her but that stuff gives me a headache…the smell is unbelievably strong." She looked out the window at the night sky. Not a cloud was in sight. She sighed, not wanting to think about yesterday. "Are you glad?" She asked, out of the blue.

"What about?" He asked back, his thoughts interrupted.

"About me staying."

"Agochuba." He replied, hanging his head over the edge of his bed to look at her upside-down. She tilted her head to the left.

"Well you're easy to please." She said with a smile.

"Stitch glad either way. Long as Stitch and Angel together." He said, clapping his hands, sort of to emphasize his words. He rolled, too far back, and fell with a flip onto the floor. Angel couldn't help but laugh. With a moment of reorientation he was back on the bed, sitting as if nothing happened. "Hm…uh…how was morning?" He asked, trying to bring up a conversation to pass the time.

"Well," Angel said, "it started off ok…but then I got into some trouble."

"Gaba?" He asked, begging her to go on.

"I attacked that one girl…Myrtle." She told him bitterly. He grinned happily.

"Trekaba chibito!" He exclaimed.

"What you mean 'good job'?" She asked with disbelief at his praise. "I got us kicked out early and everything. How can that be a 'good job'?"

"Why agata?" He asked.

"Because…she was being despicable to Lilo. And she took my pendant." Angel sneered.

"Ah, Myrtle had it coming." He snickered. "Sooner or later."

"You and Lilo…" She said with a sigh.

"What about me?" Lilo asked, coming up from the elevator. Both Stitch and Angel ran toward her, but within a foot of her they fell over, they're eyes bulged and their heads spinning. "What?" Lilo asked, "I took the bath, I don't smell anymore!"

"Naga…" Angel muttered.

"Bleach…" Stitch finished. Both of them turned and started crawling away.

"Well yeah, I did have to bleach the tub. Nani's orders, remember?" She rolled her eyes. "Maybe if I change it won't smell as bad." She suggested, walking to the closet. "You guys go ahead, I'll be down in a second." She told them. She heard Stitch yell "Food!" and jump down the elevator shaft.

"Hey." Lilo heard Angel say behind the door.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Are we going to practice the song after dinner?"

"Sure, I guess. We have to; I think we're going to rehearse it tomorrow." She replied. She heard Angel's footsteps receding away. "Hey Angel?" She yelled back.

"Gaba?"

"Thanks."

"Lilo! Get up! You're late!" Screamed Nani.

"Huh?" Lilo mumbled, squinting her eyes. She looked over at the alarm clock. "Oh man!" She jumped out of bed and ran across the room to Stitch and Angel. "Guys, guys, get up, we're late for practice!"

"Huh?"

"Gaba?"

"We're late, hurry up!" Lilo shouted as she ran into the closet. Their grogginess was abruptly swept away with Lilo's frustrated voice. They forced themselves to hop off their beds, skip the wakeup-warm up, and jump right into the pandemonium.

Lilo busted out of the closet in her hula costume with a bang and jumped on the elevator, followed by Angel, and then Stitch, who jumped down a good few seconds after it departed. When they reached the bottom, Lilo was the first to dash out into the bathroom. She grabbed her toothbrush and squirted the tube of paste, but nothing came out.

"Argh!" She grunted with frustration, shaking the tube. "Come on! Come on! Com-" With a sputter, the tube finally worked, and splattered toothpaste everywhere. "Oh great…" She said sarcastically. Stitch came in, tilted his head to the side, and then licked the paste off of her, burping afterward. It was an odd combination of his morning-breath scented with mint. Lilo frantically brushed her teeth and bolted out the bathroom door.

"Hey, watch it!" Angel warned as Lilo almost knocked her over. She put a hand on the wall to keep her balance, then let go once she was steady, only to have Stitch knock her over on his way out.

"Sorry." He apologized mechanically. Angel recovered and started her run down the hall with a huff. When she got downstairs, Stitch and Lilo were already at the table, just about to eat some buttered toast. Swiftly, just as Stitch tossed his bread into the air, she jumped on the chair and bounded toward the morsel, catching it in her mouth before it reached the peak of its loop. "Hey!" He yelled as she landed.

"Soka." She said mechanically, and shrugged.

"She needs it more," Lilo reasoned with a full mouth, then downed her orange juice and finished her statement, "she's singing today. We'll get something for you on the way back ok?" She said, patting him on the head. He raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, no time." She commanded, running to the door.

"Wait, don't forget the sheets." Angel said, reminding her.

"Oh yeah! And we also need to come up with a disguise for you." She said to Angel.

"A disguise?" Angel asked, following her up the stairs.

"Yeah, we can't have you go as Angel, remember? If you're going to sing you've gotta pretend to be a human." Lilo's explanation started on the elevator, and finished with her head in the closet upstairs.

"First a dog, now a human." Angel commented, as Lilo ruffled through some of her dresses.

"Here, put this one on, it's clean, I think." She said, handing her a green one with white leaves. Angel put it on, having trouble fitting it over her tail. "And put on these sandals too."

"Are you sure they'll fit?" Angel asked, laying her foot on one. The answer was obvious, so Lilo put them back. "Well, do I look like a human?" She asked.

"Um…" Lilo murmured, scrutinizing her appearance while Stitch climbed his way into view from the elevator. "You're antennae." She pointed out.

"Oh yeah." Angel said, immediately retracting them. "Now?"

"Looks good to me." Lilo approved, after a quick glance. "Stitch?" She asked. He let out a loud, slick whistle of approval, which made Angel blush a little. "Alright; looks like we're ready; let's go." She said, grabbing her duffel bag.

"Sorry I'm late!" Lilo announced as she came through the door.

"Oh great, she came." Myrtle said with disgust. Stitch noticed a change in Angel's posture, and put a hand on her shoulder, sensing the irritation in her. She looked back at him, unaware of the change herself that he saw.

"Well, Lilo, I was beginning to think you weren't coming today." Moses said from his seat in front of the stage. The other girls were in costume and standing on the stage. Apparently the rehearsal had started. "After they're done we'll move onto the solo." He told her.

"Well, actually, I wanted to ask you if-"

"Ok Myrtle, whenever you're ready."

"All right girls, from the top." Lilo shook her head impatiently. She shrugged at Angel and walked toward the chairs, sitting down in the back row. Angel sat next to her, and Stitch sat on the floor, playing the part of "the dog".

"You'll get your chance." Angel said to Lilo.

"Yeah I know. I just want to ask him quick. I don't want Myrtle getting in the way. I mean, what if she convinces him not to let you sing with me?" She asked.

"Oh he'll let me. And if he doesn't on his own, I'll just make him." Lilo raised her eyebrow.

"How?" She asked, a little uneasily. If Angel intended on doing something dangerous…

"Simple; the same way I can turn people from good to bad and vise-versa. Just hypnotize him into saying yes." Angel explained. Lilo thought about it.

"Doesn't seem right…but then again I don't want to go up there alone."

"Lilo?" Moses asked.

"Uh-huh?"

"It's your turn." Lilo hopped off the chair and wandered toward Moses, running the proposition through her mind again.

"Before I go up can I ask something?" She started rhetorically.

"I don't see why not." He replied.

"My friend here," she pointed to Angel, "Angel," she held her tongue on the "l", realizing she was going to slip up if she didn't think of something fast, "…ica, heard about the performance we're doing, and she wanted to know if she could sing with me on stage." Lilo explained. "I know it's supposed to be a solo, but she's really good at singing."

"Well, let's see, go on up and show me." He said with a smile. They both nodded. Angel was a bit relieved that the man didn't recognize her from yesterday—the only thing different about her was the dress. Either it was just really convincing, or these people needed glasses.

"Angelica?" Angel asked with a little bit of curiosity and annoyance.

"Sorry, I had to come up with something different. You see, if I said 'Angel' he might've gotten some ideas. You've gotta keep on your toes when you're an experiment in disguise. Especially because grown-ups have some kind of 'meeting' where they tell each other secrets, and if one finds out about you cousins, we'll be in a lotta trouble."

"All right, all right." She agreed, walking up the stairs to the stage. Myrtle and the other girls were watching from the back row, and Stitch had moved up to the front, still sitting like a dog on the floor. Lilo felt a little nervous as all the eyes followed her and Angel. "Don't forget about the tricky part." Angel whispered, before they stepped into place.

"Whenever you're ready." Moses said.

"One…two…three…four…" Stitch tilted his head after Lilo counted the beats. Angel started singing right away—perfectly and smoothly. His ears involuntarily perked at the high notes and dropped at the low notes, and returned to normal in the middle. Lilo started off shakily at first, but she got better half a minute or so into the song. After a few minutes, the ringing noise left Stitch's ears and he realized the song was over.

"Very good." Moses said, clapping his hands. Lilo stared into the audience: Stitch looked dazed, and Myrtle sat with her arms across her stomach, and her mouth slightly ajar at an angle. "You two work excellently together. I definitely think you two should perform as a duet. Now, Lilo, you were a little off in the first part, could you do it aga-" The phone rang in the back of the room, and Moses told everyone to wait a moment while he answered it.

"How did I do?" Lilo asked, her neck and cheeks warm with nervousness.

"Better than you think." Angel replied.

"Looks like we're a duet then. You're hypnotizing plan worked."

"What hypnotizing plan?" Angel asked with a smile. "I can't hypnotize people to say yes. I can only make them good or evil." Lilo gave a meek smile back. Angel fooled her good. But Lilo knew she only did it to give her confidence. Moses hung up the phone, and walked back over to the center of the room, with a disappointed frown on his face.

"Ready Moses?" Lilo shouted.

"Actually…everyone…I have an announcement to make." He said, with an unhappy sigh. "It appears that the band that volunteered to play the songs during our performance had to cancel due to another opportunity." He explained. "I'm afraid that unless another band can take their place, we won't be able to put on the show until as much as two months from now." Angel glared.

"What…" She said with disbelief.

"Man…just when I was gonna be the star, too." Myrtle whined.

"I don't believe this…" Angel thought, looking at Lilo. "How unfair! I finally get a chance to do something I know I can do without messing up…and now this has to happen." She sighed. "Soka, Lilo"

"Me too…this is horrible." She pouted. "Just when I was all worked up to sing, too." She looked at Angel. "If only Jumba made more experiments that were musical, like you, then maybe we could…" She started to trail in her words, an idea hitting her. She smiled with excitement. "We can! Moses! I know a band! They're great—they're friends of Angelica's. They play really good."

"Are you sure they'll agree on such short notice, though?" He asked.

"Sure, if we give them time to practice. We'll go see if they'll do it for us right now."

"All right. We'll end early today, and you can have your sister call me later to tell me the news." He said, clapping his hands. "Until then, keep practicing." Lilo and Angel ran down the steps of the stage to meet Stitch, who was smiling with curiosity.

"They're probably weird." Angel heard Myrtle say as the girls left through the door. Her glare receded as she saw the red hair disappear. Her attention turned toward Lilo.

"Uh…Lilo…about this 'band that I know of'…who are they?"

"You said that all our cousins were at a shelter during the floods right?" Lilo asked.

"Yeah, we were all there." Angel replied.

"Well then, lead the way." Lilo ordered happily. Angel looked at Stitch. He could immediately tell she didn't like this idea, by the look on her face, and he remembered her saying that the experiments had treated her harshly in the past. Angel requested that he not tell Lilo about that, but it looks like she's going to find out anyway, despite Angel's attempts to keep it hidden. Now, it's a train wreck waiting to happen for her.